It’s been all quiet on the writing-news front recently as I complete work on my novel. Like a duck, I’m all pedalling legs below the surface. It was lovely, therefore, to discover yesterday that one of my short stories was shortlisted for the Fish Short Story Prize 2014. The competition received 1560 stories. Not in the final anthology, but nearly there. It’s good to know this story is on the right tracks.

And to finish with a return to daffy ducks – ’cause why not? – here’s an article I’ve long loved from The Guardian by Angus Watson, about the surprising and exquisite sound ducks make in the moment of landing. Why? Because all their flapping awkwardness vanishes. ‘Just as onlookers put their hands to their mouths in dread, the duck produces the perfect ending… and glides like Cleopatra’s barge.’ Rereading, I thought it a lovely analogy to the (ideal) writing process.